Sacramento Bee deserves an "F" for snarky editorial

Although I am well aware that market trends are a large part of the reason newspapers are going under--an out of touch attitude...no, an air of superiority that many papers feel they have over the readers, contributes to their bleeding.

Remember what Al Pacino's Tony D'Amato character said about the minuscule difference between success and failure, "the inches," in "Any Given Sunday," "The inches we need are everywhere around us."

The Sacramento Bee published an online editorial--since yanked--that mocked not only its readers--but every Californian who voted against five budget propositions in Tuesday's elections.

Newspapers need to win the inches if they are going to survive. But SacBee gave itself a self-inflicted 15 yard penalty with this awful offal:

Editorial: You did it! Uh, so what now?

Good morning, California voters. Do you feel better, now that you've gotten that out of your system?

You wanted to show the state's politicians just how mad you are at them. And you did. Boy, did you ever.

Proposition 1A with its taxes and its spending limit? Too much of one and not enough of the other, you said (or was it the other way around), and voted it down. Never mind that the taxes go into effect anyway. You showed 'em.

Proposition 1B? That was a tougher call.

Proposition 1C? No way. You like the lottery just like it is. And all they were going to do with that extra $5 billion was spend it.

Propositions 1D and 1E? Forget it. You had already voted to put money into preschool and mental health programs. You're not taking it out now.

And 1F? Heck, yeah! Let's not pay our legislators if they can't pass a budget on time. So what if it likely won't have any effect, or that this year they actually passed a budget months earlier than they needed to? That's not the point.

The point is that you're sick and tired of all this political mumbo-jumbo. So you showed those politicians who's in charge. You. You're now officially in charge – of a state that will be something like $25 billion in the hole for the fiscal year beginning July 1.

So, now that you've put those irksome politicians in their place, maybe it's time to think about this: Since you're in charge, exactly what do you intend.

...That sounds a lot like work, you say? Sorry, no whining allowed. You asked for this job. Now you've got it, so get on it. Oh, and remember. The entire nation is watching to see how you do now that you're in charge.

As I wrote yesterday, California has among the nation's highest sales and income tax rates--yet it still it has a $25 billion deficit. The state's politicians have done a horrible job running the former Golden State.

Good work, California voters.

Here's a suggestion for the Bee if it wants to stay in business: Don't insult your customers.

Hat tip to The Radio Patriot and ThirdWaveDave.

Related post:

Californians defeat budget propositions

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